When you were growing up, did anyone ever tell you “No one likes a tattletale!” Dictionary.com defines “whistleblower” as “a person who informs on another or makes public disclosure of corruption or wrongdoing.” The truth is, no one likes a whistleblower. That is why we have to have laws and programs to protect them.
Michael Sullivan is an Atlanta attorney with Finch McCranie, LLP who specializes in representing whistleblowers. In this interview Michael discusses several of the whistleblower statutes and what it takes to qualify as a whistleblower generally.
There are more than a dozen federal laws that encourage whistleblowing and they all have different and specific requirements. Some of them make sense and some of them don’t. Like most federal laws, they are confusing as hell and take an expert, such as an attorney like Michael, to interpret. After talking with Michael, it seems pretty obvious that if a person working for or with the government believes they have information concerning some aspect of fraud or corruption, the first thing to do is contact a lawyer who handles whistleblower cases. Not all lawyers do.
The idea behind whistleblower statutes in general is that people need encouragement and protection in order for them to be willing to expose fraud and corruption. Whistleblowers always put their jobs on the line because in many instances they are getting their bosses and/or fellow employees in trouble. When a whistleblower comes forward, the reality that no one likes a tattletale becomes very personal. Sure, whistleblowers are entitled to protection from retaliation on the job, but that is a difficult thing to accomplish.
In addition to offering whistleblowers protection, the laws generally provide financial incentives to those who become whistleblowers. Generally, if they are fired, they are entitled to reinstatment and back pay, maybe double pay. They may also get their attorney fees paid. And in the right case, they might actually be entitled to receive various sums of money, kind of like a reward, based on the dollar value of the corruption they expose. The problem is that none of this is guaranteed and it takes a strong, determined person to be a whistleblower.
Pray for the whistleblowers among us—-and their attorneys.
The bias against whistleblowers is deeply engrained in U.S. culture. When you are young you are told not to be a “tattletale” or to be a “team player.” To many, the term whistleblower evokes negative images characterized by disparagements like rats or moles. I am a whistleblower and I’ve been called names, sacrificed my accounting career and was ostracized by the industry I had worked in. But it didn’t ruin my life. I have since authored the book “Undercover How I Went from Company Man to FBI Spy—and Exposed the Worst Healthcare Fraud in US History.” In my book I describe my long journey of being a whistleblower and the impact it has had on me and in the industry. Whistleblowers do serve an important role in our society, they are the people who have the moral fiber to stand up and report corruption. Whistleblowers do need protection as you state but doesn’t the public really need the protection of a whistleblower?
John W. Schilling
Author of “Undercover”
http://ethicsolutionsllc.com